Santa Barbara City Arson Team Investigates 2nd Blaze on TV Hill

SANTA BARBARA – Santa Barbara City’s Fire Marshal Joe Poire confirms investigators are looking into two “deliberately set” blazes on TV Hill, set on two consecutive nights.The most recent fire broke out Tuesday night after 8:30 on the 800 block of Loma Alta, just feet away from Monday night’s vegetation fire.When firefighters arrived on scene, they found a ten foot by ten foot spot fire that nearby residents were putting out with a hose.The blaze was quickly extinguished and there was no major damage to any of the nearby homes.Poire told NewsChannel 3 that investigators have ruled out homeless encampment fires in both cases and have “little to go on.”Poire said “everything indicates these fire were deliberately set with an open flame…with a lighter or something like that.”Witnesses have described seeing a college-aged man taking photos of Monday night’s fire that broke out on the 400 block of Loma Alta. Investigators are interested in talking with that person to see what clues they might gather from the photos.